Call of the Dragon
by Zaxxon
Summary: Peter has been called by the Dragon, will he answer?


Call of the Dragon  
by Zaxxon  
Part 1  
  
[Kwai Chang Caine's Apartment:  
Monday, Morning]  
  
"You are troubled Kwai Chang Caine," Lo Si said.  
"I am not ... troubled, Master," Caine replied, "I am ... disturbed."  
The Ancient continued watering the plants on his side of Caine's   
garden.  
Caine knew that Lo Si, the Ancient, wanted to help but he did not   
know how to proceed. Caine sighed and said, "While mediating this morning   
I felt a ... presence. It disturbed me greatly."  
Lo Si waited patiently for Caine to continue.  
"I could only feel it for a moment. The feeling was ... evil.  
Ancient, powerful and yet, I could not find the direction of this  
evil. Nor could I find it again when I looked for it," Caine said.  
"Interesting," Lo Si said. "Perhaps if we linked our chi together  
we can expand your search."  
"Yes, that is a good idea," Caine said.  
Together the two men moved into the mediation room, sat down, and   
linked their chi together and searched.  
"Show me what you saw Kwai Chang Caine," the Ancient said and Caine  
did. "Let us look together."  
Time passed and both men were exhausted. Their search was  
fruitless. Caine sighed and said, "it is as before. I saw but a sliver  
and now we can not find it."  
"This is disturbing," Lo Si said. He thought for a moment,  
recalling what Caine had shown him. "we must go to Shambalha. Perhaps  
with the others we can find and confront this threat."  
"But ... " Kwai Chang Caine began for he felt that was a bit excessive   
of the Ancient to a possible evil that he could only feel for a moment.   
"What affects one, affects all," Lo Si stated.  
Caine felt a twinge of guilt. He knew that Lo Si was right. He  
forgotten that one Shambalha Master is a part of the combined whole.  
A Shambalha Master was more than an individual. He was one with other  
Shambalha Masters. He shared their strength, their knowledge, and their  
very life forces. No Master was ever alone. Caine had alway thought of   
himself as a Shaolin Priest, a Master of Way, true, but a Priest none   
the else. Now he realized he was beginning again at as a pupil, in the   
ways of Shambalha.  
After the Ancient created the portal to Shambalha, the two entered  
leaving the physical plane behind.  
  
* * * * *  
  
[Mid Town Sloanville:  
Monday, Mid Morning]  
  
Peter Caine has not having a good week. He had been troubled by  
strange dreams and vision, most of which did not make sense to him.  
Those that did make sense where those he could do without. Not that all   
the dreams that made sense were bad, in fact some were very pleasant.  
The fact remained, he was not getting enough sleep. An he had this  
feeling of depending doom. Shaking the feeling, Peter got down to work.  
  
"Freeze! Police," said Peter. There was the thrill of finally  
capturing one of the suspects involved in the robbery that Detective   
Caine and Detective Jody Powell were working on. A lead that Powell   
uncovered leaded them to this moment. The case involved the robbery of a  
local store in China town by three masked assailants. Despite the masks,  
one of the assailants was identified and picked up. In questioning the  
first suspect's relatives and friends, Peter discovered that his  
girlfriend had assisted in the robbery, thus providing the second  
suspect. Now they were closing on the third from the information Jody   
got from the girlfriend.  
/Typical situation,/ thought Peter, /one suspect with a single gun  
against two detectives and six uniforms, all armed and aiming at the  
suspect./ Out loud he said, "Drop the gun. Put your hands on your head."  
Peter could not help but remember what his father, Kwai Chang  
Caine, would say, /no one is born evil. We must help those who have  
fallen./ He wanted to believe that, so as the suspect lowered his gun he  
relaxed a bit. But instead of dropping the gun completely, the suspect  
shot at one of the officers and Jody. "Damn," Peter shouted as he fired   
his gun.   
A single shot rang out, then silence descended. Cautiously  
Peter and the other officers approached the suspect. As they neared him,   
it was obvious that he was dead.  
Seeing Peter's dark face Jody tried joking, "Police 1, Criminal 0."  
Jody noted that it had not helped so she fell silent. Taking charge of  
the scene Jody said to nearest officer, "Have the gun dusted for prints.   
And clean up the mess."  
"Why do we have to clean up?" asked one of the uniformed officer.  
"You wanted to do the paperwork?" Jody asked nicely.  
"No ma'am," came the reply.  
  
/Here we go again,/ Captain Karen Simms thought. Detective Peter  
Caine, one of her best detectives, was sitting in her office. She could  
tell that Peter did not want to be here. Not now or the other times that  
involved a shootout but regulations required it. /Well, let's get  
started,/ she thought. To Peter she stated, "You know why you're here."  
"Yes Captain," Peter answered even though it was not a question.   
"Regulations say that an officer involved in a shootout that results in   
a fatality is to be removed from street duty by either being placed on   
desk duty or suspended for a week while the investigation going on."  
/And we both know which you'll choose,/ Simms thought. With a sigh  
Simms said, "I'll tell the Chief and get the paperwork started.  
Dismissed Detective." As she started filling out the forms that had   
Detective Caine assigned to a desk for a week she noted that he had not   
left. Puzzled she looked up.  
As she looked up she noticed that Peter's gun was on her desk along  
with his badge. As she opened her mouth to ask what was he doing, Peter  
said, "I ... I need the time off." Simms looked stunned. This had not  
happen before. Peter always took the desk duty over suspension so he  
could still be on shift. Before she could recover from her shock Peter  
left the precinct.  
  
* * * * * * * * *  
  
[Hundred First Precinct:  
Wednesday, Noon]  
  
Detective Jody Powell was worried. She had this feeling of dread.  
As if seeing Peter Caine walking out of the precinct was like seeing him  
walking out of their lives. Nor was she alone in her concern but only  
she felt there was more going on then just the shootout investigation.   
The investigation had showed that Peter acted as he should have but the  
news did not changed his sour mood. /Peter is acting like ... not Peter,/   
she thought. She had tried calling him at his apartment but he did not   
answer his phone. After the ninth try in as many hours, she went there   
in person to try talk to him. When she found the door locked, she got   
Kermit to open the door to his apartment. They found it empty and   
a mess as if Peter had not been there for a while. Now Jody's fears had   
infected Kermit. They decided to look into all of Peter's hangouts to   
see if they could find him.  
After looking all over, Jody decided to go to see if Peter was over  
his father's house in China town. After hesitating a moment at the   
threshold she entered the studio that Caine called home. She noticed that   
the candles were lit so she assumed that Caine was home. Feeling   
like an intruder Jody tip-toed through the work-out area towards the   
meditation room. After a while she felt silly and walked normally as she   
entered the meditation room. Although the light was dim she could see   
that someone was sitting in the room meditating. Softly she asked, "Caine?"  
"He's not here," came a voice from the room.  
The voice was so flat Jody could not believe that it came from a  
living person so she repeated, "Caine?"  
The figure turned to face her and Peter said, "My father is not  
here."  
Jody could not believe her eyes. Peter Caine sat but a few feet  
away and yet it was like he was in another place. His voice was flat,  
lacking any life or emotions that Jody normally associated with him.  
Although scared for no reason she could think of, she tried talking to  
him. "Peter.... What's wrong?"  
Peter looked through her, not at her, and stated in a mono tone  
voice, "My father's not here and I didn't know where he is."  
"Peter, tell me what wrong!" Jody screamed.  
"You would not understand," Peter said in the same flat voice he  
had been using.  
"Try me!" Jody said.  
Peter looked past her at something in the distance. When she turned   
to see at what held Peter's attention, she saw nothing. As she turned back   
to ask what was going on, she saw that he was gone.  
  
* * * * * * * * *  
  
[Sloanville:  
Wednesday, Evening]  
  
It was late. Peter knew that but he could not make himself return  
to his bed nor to his father's dwelling. Instead he walked away, leaving  
his car where he left it. After walking aimlessly for hours, he realized   
he had walked all the way the other side of town. He remembered the  
park. His foster father, Paul Blaisdell, had taken him here a month after   
Peter had came to live with the Blaisdells. He liked the park. It had trees,   
benches, and a small lake that few people looked at. Peter moved towards   
the lake. As he neared it, he remembered a lake near his father's temple   
that he had gone to when his life was in turmoil like it was now. Somehow,  
knowing that he would be alone for the night Peter sat down into a half  
lotus and begin to meditate.  
After a number of attempts Peter found the calmness within himself  
that was his center. It took him some time to find it because he  
realized he was trying too hard. Once he stopped trying so hard it was  
easy to locate. Once he centered himself, as his father had taught him, he  
tried to do something he had not tried in a long time. With his mind   
centered he began to look for the center of the World. Once more after a   
few failures he realized he was trying to force the search. Remembering  
what the visiting Priest who had taught his class when his father was away.  
Peter sought the link between his center and the World's center.  
/Grounding is what the Priest had called it,/ Peter thought.  
Once the connection was formed, just as the last time, a flooded of  
energy rushed at him. It felt like the time that he joined his chi with  
his father and Lo Si's but more intense and without either of the  
Shambalha Masters overlapping presences. It felt like the flood was   
endless and that he would drown. But he was older now, not the child that   
then needed Master Ping Hai and the visiting Priest to help him out of   
the flood. He had finished his Shaolin training. So instead of drowning   
Peter became one with the flood and the flow seemed to slow down enough   
for him to control it. While feeling energized physically, Peter still   
felt the mental exhaustion. He also felt safe despite that fact that he  
was out in the open. He fell asleep in the park while mediating. As   
sleep began to claim him he felt something warm and soft wrap around him.   
A small part of his mind was troubled for he felt scales too. /Like a   
dragon had wrapped itself around me,/ he thought but he was too tired to  
do anything about it.  
Thus did Peter Caine sleep in a park that night with a blue-green  
dragon wrapped around him to protect him with his mother's voice sing  
him to sleep.  
=== End of Part 1 === 


End file.
